How to Build Repeat Business with Email Marketing

Building repeat business should be a goal of every business owner. After all, it’s one of the best ways to increase revenue. And, it’s well-known that attracting repeat customers can be easier than attracting new ones.

With that in mind, email marketing has been shown to be one of the most effective means of building repeat business.

According to a 2016 survey from content and demand generation services provider WBR Digital and email marketing automation services provider emarsys, email marketing is the number one customer retention tool for small and medium sized businesses. Among the 254 retail professionals surveyed in the U.S. at companies with annual revenues under $100 million, 80 percent said email marketing drives customer retention.

We Miss You Emails
So, it’s effective but how does email marketing build repeat business? One idea is to offer a special discount to customers who may not have visited the store in 30, 60 or 90 days. If the point of sale information indicates that a certain customer has not come back, it’s possible to fire off a personalized email to the email address on file (presuming you have already collected this information and connected it to the point of sale customer data). It may help to offer

Join The Club
Another way to use email marketing to build repeat business is to create a special VIP club and offer limited-time, special discounts to the club members on exclusive items. For instance, say there is a hot new product you will be receiving in the next week or so. It’s possible to prepare an email for these club members and let them know that they can get first dibs on the hot new product and if they purchase within the first week, they can receive a special 10 percent discount.

You Say It’s Your Birthday
If you don’t’ mind asking customers for their birthday information at the point-of-sale, you can build another promotional campaign around this data. You can get away with just asking for the month and day of their birthday without the year.

Many modern email marketing programs will allow you to input the birthday information into the system and have a personalized email automatically sent to the customer. It’s a great time to do it because many people are in the mood to spend on themselves when they have a birthday. At least, that’s what the transaction data says: according to Experian, birthday emails have 481 percent higher transaction rates than promotional emails.

It’s a good idea to include a discount (for example, free shipping on your birthday or $10 off) and send the email on the birthday. Then, send a reminder email a few days afterwards. After all, many people are busy with plans on their birthdays and they may not remember.

Have a question about point of sale systems? Contact us today to speak with someone.